


A Marriage Proposal

by MDF007



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adult Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Domestic Fluff, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Established Relationship, F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21873688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MDF007/pseuds/MDF007
Summary: Little Ruby Hanscom-Marsh learns about what marriage is and wants to marry her beloved Uncle Richie.Unfortunately, Uncle Richie has to break it to his favorite niece that he's already promised to marry Uncle Eddie one day.Lots of fluff and a marriage proposal ensue.I could not be bothered to think of a decent title for this-- sorry!
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 9
Kudos: 302





	A Marriage Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Super fluffy oneshot that I hardly proofread. But it was also fun to write. Sorry!

The Losers were in the midst of their annual reunion. After defeating Pennywise for a second time, barely making it all out alive and desperate not to forget one another again, they had vowed to gather all together at least once a year, no matter where they were and what they were doing.

Of course, there had been many changes over five years of reunions. Pretty early on, Ben and Bev had tied the knot, their wedding serving as that years’ reunion. In addition to this, though it took a little more time, Richie and Eddie had finally figured their shit out and after over thirty years of pining were at last together and happy. Richie, with the encouragement of his new boyfriend, came out to the world and began writing his own material, experiencing a surge in popularity with his new style and public persona. Mike had finally left Derry and was happily experiencing the world beyond Maine. Bill had at last figured out how to write a satisfying ending and was as successful as ever. And Stan was as in love with Patty as the day he met her, and enjoying the company of a new cat as he happily did puzzles and ignored (but not really) daily annoying texts from Richie.

And perhaps the biggest change of all, Ben and Bev had celebrated the arrival of a beautiful little girl, now three years old, named Ruby Marie Hansom-Marsh. As soon as Ruby entered the world, she had all of the Losers wrapped around her little finger. And in turn, she loved all her Aunts and Uncles as much as she would any blood-related family members. No one more, however, than one Richie Tozier.

Little Ruby loved her Uncle Richie, and Richie loved her. He had finally found someone who would laugh, guaranteed, at every one of his dumb jokes. Ruby thought Uncle Richie was the funniest person in the world—she couldn’t understand why the other adults would roll their eyes at his jokes—and she loved all the attention she received whenever he was in town. He would shower her with affection—buy her gifts and carry her around on his shoulders, play with her for hours and kiss her cheek fondly and call her ‘princess’ or jellybean’. Yes, Richie and Ruby certainly had a special bond—a bond which varied from adorable to annoying depending on how loud they were being that day.

Today, Eddie had decided as he watched Richie play with Ruby and her dolls in the living room, it was adorable.

Eddie’s heart melted when he watched Richie with Ruby. He was never very good with kids himself, although he of course loved Ruby as much as the others, and he always harbored a secret admiration and jealousy for the ease with which Richie talked with children. He supposed it was probably because Richie was no more than a giant child himself. Nevertheless, it was hard not to smile at Richie seriously brushing the doll’s hair as Ruby giggled and clung to him in awe.

“He’s so good with her.” Bev sighed, surprising Eddie out of his thoughts as she came up silently behind him. “Have you guys ever talked about having them?”

Eddie looked at her, surprised. “What? Kids?”

Bev smiled at him, amused. “Yeah, dummy.” She nudged him gently with her shoulder. “Kids.”

Eddie shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know, maybe. It’s just, we’re so old already. And we aren’t even married yet. I’m not sure if it makes sense.”

Bev hummed understandingly, still staring at Richie and Ruby fondly, her arms crossed loosely over her chest. Eddie looked on as well and imagined for a minute that it was their daughter Richie was playing with instead of Ben and Bev’s. He imagined preparing dinner and calling them both in, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. He smiled softly.

“You never know, though.” he finished, almost wistfully.

Bev turned to look at him and smiled. Overcome with affection for friends she hardly saw anymore, she pressed a kiss to Eddie’s cheek. Before he could react, she was walking away, calling everyone into the dining room for dinner and pulling Ruby away to wash her hands before they ate.

Richie watched them go, his eyes falling on Eddie as he turned. He smiled brightly and got up to walk over. He wrapped both arms around Eddie’s torso and pulled him close, resting his chin on the top of Eddie’s head. Eddie let his face be smushed into Richie’s chest, inhaling deeply and enjoying the warmth from Richie’s body.

“Staring at me, huh?” Richie murmured, pulling away slightly to press a kiss to Eddie’s forehead. “Creep.” He was smirking down at Eddie as he pulled back and Eddie hit his chest lightly, though he was smiling the whole time.

“Shut it. It’s cute, the way you play with her. And I’m not allowed to admire my boyfriend?” Eddie countered shoving Richie slightly.

“Mmm.” Richie hummed, pulling Eddie against him again. “I know it’s been like, almost three years, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over you calling me your boyfriend.”

Eddie grabbed Richie’s hand and kissed it as he stepped out of his embrace and started tugging him towards the dining room.

“We waited a long time for it.” Eddie said simply, squeezing Richie’s hand as he spoke.

“You can say that again.” Richie agreed.

They entered the dining room to find the others already seated around the table and helping themselves to platefuls of the food Stan and Audra had prepared. Starving after a day of activity, they all began eating eagerly, congratulating the chefs on a job well done.

Bev noticed first that Ruby, who was usually quite talkative at the table, had been silent throughout the meal, looking around at the adults surrounding her thoughtfully.

“What are you thinking about, honey? You’ve been awfully quiet.” Bev gently asked her daughter, smiling encouragingly at her.

Ruby looked shy for a moment, before speaking up bravely. She turned to her mother. “Why did you marry Daddy, Mommy?”

Bev looked surprised at this, then looked over at Ben and smiled knowingly. She turned back to Ruby. “Because I love Daddy very much, honey. And I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.”

Ruby contemplated this for a moment, then nodded seriously. “So you get married to someone when you love them and you want to spend a lot of time with them?”

“Yes, hon.” Ben cut in. “And if they make you very happy and take good care of you.”

Ruby nodded some more. “Oh, I see.” she said. She then smiled as if making up her mind about something and turned to Richie.

“Uncle Richie, will you marry me?”

Richie, who was in the middle of drinking a very large gulp of water, promptly choked and began sputtering loudly. Eddie snorted before quickly throwing his hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter. The rest of the Losers looked to be similarly holding back. Bill was particularly red in the face as he fought back laughter so hard his eyes teared up.

Richie composed himself quickly then returned Ruby’s serious gaze, his twinkling eyes all that revealed his own concealed amusement.

“I would love to, Princess, except I already promised Uncle Eddie that I would marry him.”

Richie gestured to Eddie dramatically as he spoke. Eddie raised his eyebrows slightly at this. They had discussed marriage a few times before, but he didn’t think that it was something Richie was really serious about. Of course, with Richie, it was hard to tell what was serious sometimes.

Ruby pouted slightly. “Why?”

Richie smiled mischievously. “Well, unfortunately I love Uncle Eddie very much. Even though he’s so annoying.” He added the last part as if it was a secret only for Ruby, hiding his mouth with his hands and fake whispering loudly.

Eddie kicked him under the table, maintaining a poker face all the way through.

Ruby giggled slightly at this, then grew confused again. “Don’t you love me too, though?”

“Of course I do, jellybean. So much!” Richie answered easily, making a kissy face at her across the table to emphasize his point and causing her to laugh again. “But I love Uncle Eddie in a different way. A marrying kind of way.”

Ruby sighed and looked contemplative again. The adults were all having a hard time keeping it together at this point.

“Alright.” Ruby agreed at last. “I guess I love Uncle Eddie too, so that’s ok.”

Eddie’s heart swelled. “If I marry him, you can keep him most of the time, Ruby. He annoys me, too.”

Ruby laughed at this and Eddie smiled, his cheeks growing slightly warm in both embarrassment and fondness for the little girl.

“In that case Ruby, I have to ask you a very important question.” Richie spoke up suddenly. Everyone looked at Richie curiously.

“Do I have your permission to ask Uncle Eddie to marry me?”

Eddie’s mouth gaped open dumbly. Could Richie possibly be serious? If he was about to make a big joke of this in front of all their friends, he’d kill him.

Ruby smiled broadly, looking from Richie to Eddie and back. “Yes! You do!” she answered brightly.

Richie smiled at her earnestly. “Thank you, princess.”

He then cleared his throat and stood ceremoniously. Now everyone around the table gasped. Eddie half expected him to shout ‘gotcha!’ and sit back down, laughing madly as Eddie blushed in anger and embarrassment.

But no, he was getting down on one knee and Eddie’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He wished to god that he could do anything beside stare at Richie dumbly with his mouth hanging open like a fish, but it seemed his brain had switched off and he could no longer utter an intelligible sentence.

“Eds.” Richie began, and Eddie didn’t even have the brain-functioning to respond with his usual ‘don’t call me that’.

“Eds,” He continued after a slightly nervous break. “I love you so, so much. Always have. Since we were kids. I can’t imagine annoying anyone else for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”

He opened a velvet box and presented Eddie with simple but elegant silver band. Eddie’s heart soared—he felt as though his chest were about to burst and shatter into a million pieces. Richie Tozier—his husband.

“God—” Eddie finally managed to stutter out, “Yes. Of course yes, Rich.”

Richie’s smile could have blinded God as he leapt forward to kiss Eddie. It was quick but passionate, keeping it as PG as possible for Ruby and for the sake of their friends. Eddie knew they would have a more heated exchange later in the privacy of their own room to celebrate.

With slightly shaking hands, Richie slid the ring on Eddie’s finger, the smile not once leaving his face as he brought Eddie’s hand to his mouth and kissed it almost reverently. They stared at each other silently for a moment, before Bev couldn’t take it anymore and let out a shout of excitement.

She flung herself at both of them, wrapping them up in a tight embrace as she laughed and congratulated them both. The rest weren’t far behind, laughing and yelling and hugging each other. Stan actually teared up slightly, though he insisted he didn’t.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment since were like, ten years old!” He defended himself when Bill called him out. “I’m just happy Richie will stop bothering me about wanting to marry Eddie and just do it already.”

Ruby was the last to get to her uncles, and Richie scooped her up in his arms as Eddie pressed a firm kiss to her cheek.

And six months later, on a warm sunny day in the mountains, Ruby led the way down the aisle scattering flowers as Richie and Eddie followed her hand in hand to say their vows.


End file.
